To the Moon
by the Delhision
Summary: Set in the near future, Gumball and Teri Traverse backwards through Mr. Small's memory to artificially fulfill his last wish.
1. Chapter 1

**Howdy folks! This is the new story that will be brought to you readers as part of my orange box spectacular 1 year anniversary on the sight. It's very much inspired/based on some very good and criminally under rated and/or under-appreciated works like the video game 'To the Moon' (from where I am borrowing the name), 'Gattaca', 'Firefly', and 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'. So after you're done with this, check them out. **

**chapter 1:the Candy Cane **

The full moon shined brightly over the towering tree-line, where it looked like a white disk floating on top of the deep deep blue of the night sky and the hundreds of stars that shone distantly from far off in the peacefully calm ocean that was the sky.

Penny couldn't help but smile as she watched the moon rise from her spot on the balcony, the utter simplicity and beauty of it was mesmerizing, she understood in that moment why her employer had such a fascination with it. She sighed sadly when she thought of poor old Mr. Small, turning back momentarily to the large house before turning back to the sky.

The moon felt so close, like it was just sitting there, hovering weightlessly just out of her grasp. The peanut looked over her shoulder quickly to make sure that there was no one there, before returning her gaze to the moon and outstretching her arm towards it, hand open to receive the small looking disk that she felt deep down that she could reach.

Suddenly there was a loud and explosive crashing sound of metal and wood from not far off that brought Penny reeling back to reality. Angry shouts echoed quietly through the trees to where Penny was, shouts of "You stupid moron!" reached her ears as she entered the house and ran down the stairs and out the door, "Yep, that's them." She thought silently as she grabbed a jacket that was hanging on the coat rack and proceeding to exit the house, flashlight in hand.

Penny walked to the edge of the tree line , finding the dirt trail easily enough as she walked down to the road that was on the other end, nervously following the beam of her flashlight. Forests had always scared Penny, especially during the night, on most occasions she would find every possible reason not to go into the forest , but tonight she knew that she had to be brave.

After a few minutes of walking Penny came out on the other end to see the smoking and dented car that was resting against the tree that seemed relatively unharmed. "Penny?" a voice spoke out from behind the open trunk of the car.

"Gumball?" she asked back excitedly. With a loud creak the heavy trunk slammed shut revealing the energetic blue cat and white paper bear standing there, both were wearing long white lab coats and holding large plastic boxes.

The two smiled at each other for a moment before Penny broke it off and asked, "Are you guys ok?", looking back towards the wreckage.

"Oh yeah, were fine, just a minor accident." He reassured the peanut with a slight chuckle, setting the box down on the roof of the car and nervously rubbing the back of his neck with his hand . "Just heroically evading a squirrel that ran into the road." Gumball said, now acting slightly macho.

"You ran over it anyways!" Teri shouted to her partner, pointing to the now flattened little rodent that was sprawled across the pavement of the road.

"Oh." Gumball muttered, obviously disheartened by the fact of his failure, his cheeks turned a bright red shade from his embarrassment.

"You hit a squirrel AND a tree!" she scolded angrily, as she walked towards the front end to evaluate the damage of the wrecked vehicle.

Gumball quickly went to the front bumper as well, making sure that he was close enough to talk to Teri without being heard by Penny. "Look, don't worry, it's a company car." He told her in a hushed voice to hide his embarrassment from Penny.

"Are you kidding me?! The boss is going to kill us!" she whispered back to the blue cat.

Gumball smiled momentarily, realizing that Teri was going along with him so as to not embarrass him further, but quickly wiped it off his face when he saw the face she was giving in response. "Listen, I'll tell him some story of a drunk driver forcing us off the road, so don't worry about that. But we have to get going soon, there is a dying man that we have to help." Gumball reminded Teri before looking back on the distraught Penny, frowning at how hard this must be for her.

"Yeah, your right." Teri sighed, before she too turned to Penny, "Can you show us the way to the hosue from here?" she asked Penny.

"Sure, it's through this forest here, just follow me." She told them with feigned calmness, as she turned and walked into the forest with Gumball and Teri following, carrying the boxes, that made metallic sounds as they took every step.

Soon the three were to the other end of the woods, and the large two story house came into view at the top of the hill. It was red -brick walls topped with dark blue tiles for the roof, which almost seemed to blend into the night sky. All around the house were flowers and other plants that formed a continuous garden around the entire building. Behind it they could hear the lull of the ocean lapping on the shore far below, about a hundred yards away an old lighthouse stood proudly, overlooking them and the ocean simultaneously and providing a sense of protection, even though the light was off.

Penny lead the trio up the hill to the house, with Teri and Gumball, who were now feeling the weight of their equipment, lagging behind.

"Not a bad place to retire at, huh?" Teri asked her partner between gasps for air.

"I could do better." The cat mumbled back, causing Teri to scoff at her partner's optimism. "So, Nightshifts; love 'em or hate 'em?" Gumball asked, trying to change the topic of conversation.

"You know the answer, you stupid owl." She responded, annoyed at the question, but that took second seat to her tiredness now that Gumball had mentioned it.

"It's probably going to be another all-nighter, y'know." Gumball warned his friend as the two approached the front door.

"I know." She responded, looking at the situation in a practical light, she couldn't think how this wouldn't last all night.

"And I doubt that they'd have any coffee…" Gumball groaned as he remembered Mr. Small's dislike for the drink.

"Shut up." Teri moaned, thinking about how much this was going to suck.

At that moment an evil grin crossed Gumball's face as he persisted, "…And the ocean waves will sing lullibies…" he said happily with a mocking sing-song voice.

"Not through your blathering they won't" She retorted as they entered the house while Penny held the door. Gumball could tell that he'd gone a smidge too far and decided to just knock it off. Teri sighed, thinking about the long night she had ahead of her, "I don't get paid enough for this." She mumbled as she walked into the foyer, immediately dropping the heavy box next to the door, Gumball dropped his as well.

"I just want to thank you two for coming down on such short notice." Penny said gratefully as she shut the door behind them.

"that's okay, I tend to be bad at predicting deaths as well." Gumball said with unintentional insensitivity, before being painfully jabbed in the side by Teri's surprisingly strong paper elbow.

"What?" Penny asked him, apparently not hearing his response.

"I said It's okay, I think that we owe it to be here with him as well." He said covering his tracks carefully.

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure if he was awake Steve would be so happy that you two were here." She replied sincerely.

"Steve?" Teri asked, with slight confusion.

"Oh yeah! That's what he likes to be called now, I don't really know why, he never told me." She admitted with a small frown.

Suddenly a pair of small peanut kids ran by, nearly running over Gumball in the process. "Sarah, Tommy! No running inside!" Penny shouted after them sternly.

Teri, shrugged this off quickly, she had met them several times before and even babysat them for Penny once or twice, but for Gumball it was an awkward moment. The young cat thought of their break-up senior year of high school, it was a very painful memory for the twenty-eight year old.

"It's not been a nine-to-five job, working for as his caretaker, so Steve lets us live here." She informed the two, just as the sound of a simple but surprisingly emotional piano tune began to echo throught the house. "It's the only song that Sarah and Tommy know for it, Steve taught them." She said with a sigh, thinking of the past before being forced back into the present. "Steve's upstairs right now with his medical doctor. Come with me." Penny spoke in a now serious tone, climbing the stairs to the second floor.

"C'mon, grab that box and let's go." Teri ordered as she picked up her own.

As Gumball picked up the heavier of the two boxes and followed Teri up the stairs, mumbling "When my back breaks one day, I'll sue you with the insurance claim."

As Teri and Gumball came up to the third floor and into Mr. Small's room, they could hear the beautiful echoing of the piano. "Those kids are pretty good for their age." Teri commented as she enjoyed the music.

"Hey…_you're _ the one who said there was no time to waste." Gumball said hurriedly, trying desperately to change the subject.

"Why are you acting like this, you know Penny's still totally in love with you. It was just a one-time-thing with the other guy." Teri said soft enough so Penny wouldn't hear., trying to help her friend, who was obviously uncomfortable with the thought of Penny with another man's kids.

Gumball blushed madly, "No, it's not that…. It's just that I'm carrying the weight of a small meteoroid here." He quickly covered for himself.

Teri sighed, "Yeah yeah, c'mon." she said unhappily, entering Mr. Small's bedroom.

Mr. Small was lying in bed, fast asleep, on one side of his bed was a doctor who was checking his pulse, on the other was an IV rack with a bag of clear liquid that was feeding into his arm. The once lively cloud man, didn't look to good anymore.

"He's unresponsive at this point, but by the looks of things, he's still consciously hanging on." The doctor informer Teri and Gumball as she flipped through some papers. "It's hard to say how long you'll have, but I would hurry." She warned, looking back onto the old cloud man.

Gumball and Teri gave a small nod of understanding before they began to un-pack the boxes, pulling out piece after piece of the machine. It was soon assembled and the plug was given to Penny to plug in.

"Are you sure a common household power outlet is sufficient?" she asked nervously, eyeballing the plug suspiciously.

"Don't worry, we're experts." Gumball reassured Penny, who gave him a small smile before plugging it in. Immediately the lights dimmed dramatically. "Oh crap." Gumball groaned worriedly before they came back on, "Standard procedures, just keeping you on your toes." Gumball chuckled, trying to convince them that it was all part of some plan.

The machine was set up and several helmets were taken out of the box and plugged into it. "So how long does he have left?" Teri asked the doctor calmly.

"Not long, a day or two tops." She warned.

"That's plenty of time." Teri assured her before walking over to Penny.

"…So you two can grant him any wish, huh?" she asked, trying to quickly confirm this.

"To try at least." Teri said matter-of-factly, before Gumball cut her off.

"But we always succeed, because we're awesome." He guaranteed her with a confident tone.

Teri facepalmed before asking, "So what is the wish?" Teri asked Penny.

"The moon." She said in a sad voice of longing.

"The moon?" Teri asked, trying to confirm the request/

"The moon…" Penny nodded, "…He wants to go to the moon." She told them with a hopeful voice.

"Geez! These geezers keep getting weirder and weirder." Gumball muttered under his breath as he calibrated the machine.

"So, can you do it" Penny asked.

"It depends…" Teri admitted, bringing a sad look to Penny's face.

"She meant to say 'yes'" Gumball said from across the room, making penny smile again and this time he smiled back.

"So why does he want to go to the moon?" Teri asked Penny after giving Gumball a scalding look for interrupting.

"I don't really know why, he never told me. I've worked as his caretaker for him ever since his wife died five years ago and all he would tell me is that he wanted to go to the moon." Penny explained to the best of her ability.

"I would've known more if I were his paperboy for Pete's sake." Gumball groaned, a little louder this time.

"Shush! Just do your thing." Teri ordered Gumball .

"I can't until I have something physical to latch onto a memory with, I can only go back to his most prominent memories, and even then I need something that was physically there at the time." He explained to the room in general.

"Okay, well he's always had a blue and yellow paper tabbit on his bedside table." Penny said, though it had been removed to make room for medical equipment. "It's down stairs somewhere, the kids can show you." Penny offered.

Before Gumball could say anything Teri offered to calibrate the machine further and Gumball was sent downstairs to retrieve the rabbit.

He found the kids, still playing the same repeating song on the piano. "Can you show me where a blue and yellow paper bunny is?" he asked awkwardly to the twins, who turned around to look at him.

"Maybe we will." Sarah replied, an evil smile now plastered on her face.

"Maybe?" Gumball asked, intrigued in the young kids choice of words.

"I think we just need a little convincing first, that's all." Sarah continued boldly. "What do ya think, Tommy?" she asked her brother.

"Yah!" he chimed in.

Feeling the thrill of his youth Gumball conceded. "All right, let's talk. What do you kids want?" he asked them in a funny fake mobster voice.

"We want…one TRILLION dollars!" Tommy announced in an equally amusing accent, raising a pinky to the corner of his mouth. This made the three of them laugh harder than they had in a long time.

"Or the candy cane that mom hides from us." Sarah compromised.

"Yah, or that!" Tommy agreed.

"Okay, where is it?" Gumball asked.

"She hides it on top of the high shelf that we can't reach." Sarah told him quietly, as if she was worried of her mother finding out.

"It's In the kitchen, Ma put it there to save for when we do out chores." Tommy explained further.

"Okay, just wait here." Gumball told them as he walked over to the kitchen. He saw the large candy cane resting on top of the cabinet, he grabbed a nearby chair and pulled it close, stepping on top and easily grabbing the treat. "Yes! It's like taking candy from an inanimate baby." He joked as he walked back to the kids.

"Alright kiddos, I was against a lot of odds back there, but I got the candy cane." He said, holding it triumphantly out to them. "It's probably a decade old and tastes like rubber, but you can use it like a walking stick." The kids laughed as they greedily took it and hid it in their room before returning to Gumball.

"Ok, the bunny is in the funny room." Sarah told him

"The funny room?" Gumball asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, it's weird." Tommy said nervously.

The kids took Gumball down stairs into the basement, where they pointed out a door on the far side that was shut. The trio walked over and opened the door.

Gumball walked into a room that was full of paper rabbits all over the ground and tables and a single stuffed platypus doll on a stack of boxes. The blue and yellow rabbit wasn't here though. "Well this is a funny room." Gumball agreed, picking up the platypus before walking back out of the room.

"What do you know about those origami rabbits?" Gumball asked the kids as they walked back upstairs.

"Nothing!" they shouted in unison, "Steve never wanted us to go in there, so we never told him." They admitted. "There are more in the lighthouse too." Tommy informed Gumball.

"Let me guess, you're not supposed to be in there either?" he asked. After a few moments of silence Gumball chuckled, "Remind me to never keep any locked cabinets around you two." He said jokingly as the kids lead him outside to the lighthouse.

As they walked they passed the crashed car from before, Tommy laughed, "Who's the dummy that crashed the car?" he asked between bouts of laughter.

"That was, er…Dr. Teri. Yeah." Gumball lied, "Oh, Dr. Teri, tsk,tsk,tsk!" he said as he hurriedly walked the kids to the lighthouse. Once they got there, the kids got the hidden key that was in hidden in a plastic rock. Inside they climbed the stairs and made it to the top room, where the rabbits were scattered again, with the blue and yellow one in the middle. Gumball picked it up and began the long climb back down.

Outside the lighthouse they passed a gravestone that Gumball read quickly "R.I.P River Small" Gumball was curious, but knew he needed to hurry back.

He and the kids made it back to the house, where Tommy continued to laugh at Teri for what he thought was her crash. Gumball quickly thanked the kids and went back upstairs to Mr. Small's room, platypus doll and paper bunny in hand.

"What took you so long?" Teri asked impatiently.

"I was burning ants with a magnifying glass." Gumball said sarcastically.

"With moonlight?" Teri pointed out with a smirk.

"Fine! I was taking a nap then." Gumball said, annoyed that his sarcasm had backfired. "God, it's so hard to be a smartass nowadays." He muttered under his breath.

"Your pretty good at being half of it." Teri retorted, before she returned back to the machine to make the final calibrations with the new objects. "Your helmet is on the couch." She said, pointing to a couch on the far side of the bed. Gumball complied and pulled the metal helmet over his head. "All right, here we go." Teri said as she put one on Mr. Small, then one on herself. She pressed a button and the entire room went dark. Teri and Gumball had just jumped into Mr. Small's memory.

**Well that is chapter 1, hope you liked it, if you did, favorite and follow and review. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: the mementos**

The new room was nearly identical to the old one, with only a few noticeable changes, but for the most part it remained unchanged.

"This should be the last accessible memory." Teri said after a small look around the room. Teri coughed slightly to clear her throat before stating in loud and clear voice, "Disable speech for all except Mr. Small." The computer recognized her command and a quiet beep confirmed her request.

"Done. Let's get him." Gumball said in a tone that gave the impression that he was ready to get on with this job. The two left the bedroom and went downstairs to the main floor. They noticed the surprising lack of music in the memory and that there was no sound of tiny feet trotting along on the hardwood floors.

"Must be before Penny moved in." Teri pointed out before walking over to the front door to continue to look for Mr. Small. Gumball, instead, walked over to the other room where he could see the piano resting against the wall with a small film of dust over the keys. The young cat sighed, the sight of the un-played piano made him upset. "You coming?" Teri asked anxiously from the front door, to which Gumball quickly complied.

The two went outside and walked around the house to the backyard, where they saw Mr. Small sitting on a stone bench alone, staring towards the not-too-far-off lighthouse in the distance as the sun set slowly into the shimmering blue ocean. The grass was a healthy deep green and the trees and flowers were in full bloom. The soft cool Summer air brought with it the sweet scent of the sea salt mixed with the smell of the lush garden full of flowers that circled the house with only a small dirt path to guide any visitors. "Steve?" Teri asked, alerting the old and bearded cloud man to their presence. He got a large smile on his face upon seeing his former students.

"What a pleasant surprise… I don't get too many visitors up here." He said and he got up and began to walk towards them to great the two.

"My name is Teri papyrus, and this is…" she said, introducing herself and her comrade, gesturing over to the later before he interrupted.

"Dr. Von Matterhorn!...Dr. Lorenzo Von Matterhorn!" the young cat said in a heavy fake German accent, and with a devilish grin as if he had pulled off some major prank.

"Nice try Gumball, but don't you think I would recognize the student that spent more time in my office than Tina Rex?" he asked with a laugh, making Gumball turn red in embarrassment.

"Sorry…" Gumball muttered his apology in humiliation.

"Don't worry about it, I would have been more surprised if you hadn't tried a prank on this old man." He replied with a small smile.

Teri broke off the friendly conversation, "Are you familiar with the Sigmund Agency of Life Generation?" she asked in a very serious tone.

Mr. Small's frown disappeared for a moment and was replaced by a look of subtle confusion. "Oh, are you two from the agency?" he asked. Suddenly the smile returned to his face before he said, "How convenient; I've been thinking of calling you." He admitted happily.

"Actually, you've already called us." Gumball corrected his old friend in a somber voice, feeling real sadness to have to tell his old teacher the truth about his appending death.

Mr. Small's grin had vanished as he backed slowly away from the two young scientists. "We're here to fulfill the contract from the relative future." Teri informed the old bearded man. Mr. Small just backed further away from the two, nearing the edge of the cliff.

"Teri! You have to break it easier to him. Show some respect." Gumball whispered scornfully.

"It's just a program y'know." Teri shot back matter-of-factly to her partner.

After some thought Gumball hesitantly agreed saying, "I know. But this is his last accessible memory, and we need his…I mean its co-operation." In an equally matter-of-fact way that covered his care for the scared old man.

"You…" Mr. Small's voice began, breaking up the partner's argument momentarily. "You're going to take me to the moon, aren't you?" he asked in sad yet hopefully excited way. It had become apparent to everyone that Steve had accepted his fate and was now prepared to claim the reward that he wanted so dearly.

"Yes, Steve." Gumball replied in a voice of mourning, approaching the old man.

"Steve turned to look back at the lighthouse, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. "…I suppose I had a good run." He said with a loud sniff, a small smile trembling like an earthquake on his lips.

"Not good enough it seems." Teri said curiously under her breath, trying to piece together the puzzle of why a counselor for a middle school would want to go to the moon so desperately.

"So, can you do it?" Steve asked, nearly begging for a 'yes'. He turned back to them and stared them in the eyes before he asked it, "Can you take me to the moon?"

"We can't, but you might be able to." Teri informed Mr. Small.

"Why do you want to go there?" Gumball asked curiously.

Both partners leaned in close to hear the answer excitedly. "I don't know." Steve admitted in regretful embarrassment.

"It's fine, you can tell us. It's essential for helping us get you to go there." Teri persisted, walking closer to the former counselor.

"Do you want the fame? The money?" Gumball asked, believing that either were acceptable requests due to the man's history of working humbly as a low income public school worker.

"You've got to have a motive." Teri said, almost frustrated at not knowing.

"I'm sorry, but I really don't know." The old man admitted to the scientists, "I just…do." He said finally, after a few seconds of thought to find the words.

Teri sighed, "Never the less Steve, here's what we will do…" she began to explain, accepting that she wasn't going to get an answer out of him yet. "We need to get to your childhood, but it is too distant to do so in one memory hop." She continued, "Thus, we will need to traverse through your memories with gradual backwards leaps. "

"Which you've given us permission to in the relative future." Gumball interjected, reminding Mr. Small, but more so himself, that this was all consensual.

"Once we lay down the waypoints in your childhood memories for direct access, we will return here." Teri continued to explain, gesturing to the ground, trying to convey that they would return to this memory. "That is when you'll need to help us influence the childhood you to become an astronaut." She said happily as her plan came to a full circle.

"Or to get on a giant catapult." Gumball joked, making Mr. Small chuckle at the cat's attempt to help him feel better.

"As long as you'll take me to the moon, I will cooperate in anyway possible." He agreed to both Teri and Gumball.

"Good." Teri said happily. "Now, in order to leap to a memory we need an item that is of importance to you." She explained to the compliant customer. "Do you have a memento of some sort to get us started? She asked, prompting Mr. Small to look around. He finally spotted something on the bench and went over to pick it up. He then handed it over to Teri, where Gumball could see it for the first time, it was the yellow and blue paper rabit. "That'll do!" she told her client. "Shall we?" she asked Gumball in a formal tone.

Gumball immediately recognized it, but kept it to himself as he said with a smirk, "Ladies first." He said in a sing-song voice. Teri sighed and quickly prepared the memento for use. It didn't take too long before it was ready to go.

"Wait, what about my privacy?" Steve asked, all of a sudden thinking of all the stuff that a prankster like Gumball could see in his memories.

"We'll try not to violate what we can avoid. But in most cases… It can't be helped." She warned as she activated the memento and the two vanished before Steve's eyes.

Gumball, Teri, and the rabbit were all that remained from the past memory as a new one formed around them. They were on the main floor of Steve's house, and there were white paper rabbits everywhere, scattered across the floor in every direction, at the piano was Mr. Small, playing the same song that Penny's children had been playing earlier, a stuffed platypus doll on top of the piano and an opened striped umbrella in the corner.

"Turn off visibility and interactivity; it'd be messy to be seen." Teri commanded the computer, which offered it's beep as assurance that her wished had been fulfilled.

Gumball walked around with his newfound abilities, "Geez…I forgot to ask him about all these rabbits." He sighed regretfully, staring at the white sea of paper rabbits that strewn the floor. "This is kinda creeping me out." He admitted softly. As soon as he said this though Mr. Small stopped playing music. "Did he hear me?" he asked worriedly.

"Impossible." Teri scoffed.

Mr. Small just sat there, staring at the stuffed platypus that sat on top of the piano. Then he collapsed forward onto the keys of the piano, producing an ugly clutter of notes to be produced in a violent burst.

"It's just part of the memory. Come on we need to find the next memento." She ordered as she started looking around the room.

Gumball just stared at the blue and yellow rabbit curiously, "Well aren't you the special one? Having two colors when all your siblings look like they were drowned in bleach." He praised the lifeless paper rabbit. "What's that? You think that all these rabbits are really creepy? Why yes, I agree!" he said with a goofy laugh.

As the two continued to look they noticed an old back pack that was obviously from Steve's childhood and that all the clocks in the house worked, but made no noise. Last but not least they found a bottle of pickled olives in Steve's room, "Blah! I hate this stuff!" Gumball moaned as he picked up the jar.

"What's to hate? It's pickled olive!" Teri asked, hardly believing that Gumball hated the food.

"Exactly!" Gumball said as if he was proving a point.

They climbed back down to the ground floor and went over to the opened umbrella in the corner of the room, which proved to be the memento. Gumball horridly prepared the memento, and the two vanished with the umbrella to the new memory.

They were on the hill next to the lighthouse, the umbrella was being held over the head of Mr. Small, shielding him from the rain, as he stood at the grave besides the lighthouse.

"When it comes to rain, through is better than onto" Gumball remarked as the rain passed right through him.

"I don't mind either way." Teri commented, earning a strange and curious look from Gumball. "We need to find the next memento to memory hop." She said as she went off to find the next one.

"Yeah, but take a look around, enjoy the scenery of the memory for once." Gumball said happily, taking a deep breath before realizing just how miserable this memory was.

The grave that Steve stared at was marked River Small, the small platypus doll rested on top of the headstone, which was protected by the rain by Steve's tilted umbrella.

After a while of searching the two failed to find the memento that would take them back to the next memory. They tried the umbrella again, a stone bench , even the gravestone, but nothing had the same significance that the mementos had. Mementos were much more solid than anything you'll ever see, they just look as if they were almost glowing in contrast to the rest of the memory, Teri had once attempted to explain to Gumball that it was because they held such significance and nostalgia in the mind of the beholder, but Gumball had really never committed her words to memory.

The two decided to expand their search to the lighthouse, this time Gumball went in first, ahead of Teri, passing through the heavy wooden door as if he was a ghost. The paper bear was about to follow her partner when she heard a loud sniff come from Mr. Small, she stopped and looked toward the weeping gray-haired old man as he choked on his words, "It's finished, River." He spoke to the tombstone, wiping away the tears from his eyes as he did so. "Like you, I'll watch over her everyday." He promised as a small, sad, smile of nostalgia and love fleetingly formed on his face. "She won't be alone anymore." He vowed before he burst into uncontrollable sobbing, letting the umbrella fall weakly to the muddy grass, allowing himself to be soaked in the cold rain.

Teri couldn't help but be touched at the pain and dedication that Mr. Small had for River, whom ever she was, despite the fact that Teri had no idea what he was promising.

"I might never understand why, but I stayed true to your wish." Steve managed to choke out in-between his sobs, "I'm sure Anya is grateful to you, too." He commented, turning to look directly to where Teri was standing, causing her to gasp and check to see if the visibility function had malfunctioned, but sure enough it was working normally. He turned back to the grave stone , gathering himself up and managing to stop his sobbing, "But when I'm gone…" he started sadly, "…Who is going to watch over us?" he asked out loud, but to no response.

Teri felt tears beginning to well up in her eyes as well as she watched the old man cry at the grave. She took out a small device from her pocket and silently dropped the visibility function, allowing her to become visible to Steve. "…Who are you?" he asked looking back up from the gravestone, startled at Teri's sudden appearance, but obviously the tears and sadness from his speech had made it so that he didn't recognize his old student . She walked closer to him, and away from the lighthouse before saying, "My name is Eva. I was just passing by." She lied, trying not to seem too out of place, "Was she your wife?" she asked motioning to the headstone.

"Yes. Her name was River." He replied, happy for the opportunity to not be alone, even if he did assume that it was a total stranger.

"That's a special name." Teri commented, not being able to think of anything else to say at the moment.

Mr. Small sadly looked back to the gravestone, sighing "It didn't need to happen." With remorseful regret.

"Hm?" Teri hummed, asking what he meant.

"She…She didn't need to do it." He replied, not knowing what to say, as if all the words and reason had been pulled from his mind and replaced solely by his mourning. "But she…" he began before thinking better of it, "You wouldn't understand. …I don't even understand." He cried sadly.

Teri paused the memory and returned the visibility function to the memory before walking slowly away towards the large, unopened, door to the lighthouse. She took a final look back at the Brocken man before fading through the door after her colleague.

As she walked up the spiraling staircase up to the top floor, she noticed that all the windows were shattered and boarded up and that it almost looked abandoned. Eventually she reached the top floor where she met Gumball who greeted her with one of his witty jokes, "About time you got here… I almost thought you fell off the cliff." He said annoyed, "What were you doing?" he enquired curiously.

After a slight pause Teri responded, "Enjoying the scenery what else?" she lied as she looked around the top room. The room was definitely in poor shape, but compared to the rest of the lighthouse it was by far the best, it had a large unbroken electronic light in the center of the room, which Gumball was examining with great interest. "Any luck?" Teri asked, interrupting Gumball's train of thought.

"Big luck. Huge. Dinosauric." He answered in his telltale humor.

"Really? Huh, looks empty to me." Teri commented, looking around the nearly empty room.

Gumball gestured over to the pre-prepared platypus doll was sitting in the corner.

"I thought that the doll was downstairs?" Teri said confused.

"There is one, but I found this in the real world and brought it along." Gumball explained, "anyway, let's go!" he urged. Teri nodded silently as Gumball began the memory hop yet again, turning the entire world a bright white featureless space while only transporting the doll, Gumball, and Teri.

**Review please, tell me how you liked it and try and guess what happens next, that way you can read your comments later and see if you were anywhere close to getting it right.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: The Pickled Olives**

Gumball and Teri appeared inside a bedroom, white paper rabbits scattered the floor and a large black piano sat on the far side of the room where the two scientists had jumped to. On the other end of the room was Steve, who was standing beside a bed, talking to a grey haired woman who was lying underneath the blankets that covered the bed, the stuffed platypus sitting to her side on the mattress.

"Just enough." Steve told her in a stiff and rigid way, "After your operation, we'll have just enough left for it… So don't you worry." He told the woman affectionately, clearly trying to cheer her up.

Steve's beard was shorter now, more trimmed and he looked much more fit then Teri and Gumball had seen him before. He still had the light in his eye, the small glisten that shone when you were near him, his eternal youth. Neither of the partners noticed it's absence until this point, but now that they were seeing it again with their own eyes they couldn't believe that they had not seen its absence.

Gumball and Teri could only watch from their spots on the other side of the room, invisible and unable to interact with the world around them, this time though they watched and listened carefully to what the two had to say, instead of immediately searching for the memento that would send them to the next memory.

The woman in the bed, who was also a cloud person and about the same age as Steve, turned to Steve and weakly muttered, "…White Lie." Then she looked back over to her platypus and asked, "That is what you call it, right?" in a innocently saddening way.

"No, I'm sure we can jus—" Mr. Small stuttered, trying to cover his tracks.

"Stop it." The woman ordered him, interrupting him and making him stop talking. "I don't like it when you lie." She said in a sad voice, making Mr. Small frown. "I calculated our finances; I know how it's like." She revealed, picking up the old stuffed platypus absentmindedly and hugging it to her chest. "Why do you try to convince me against my will?" she asked, burying her face into the felt skin of her stuffed toy.

"We need the money for the medical bills, River!" Steve shouted in a frustrated manner, as if he was trying to point out the obvious. His tone soon re-softened and he apologized before continuing in an understanding tone, "I understand that Anya means a lot to you, but this…this is just too much." He stated with a lot of emotion in his voice. "I mean, she-…she isn't even-" he said, getting more and more desperate.

"Do you know what makes me happy, Steve?" River asked, lifting her head form the stuffed toy to look Steve in the eyes, interrupting her husband for the second time.

Mr. Small stood there silently for a moment, thinking long and hard before he unwillingly gave in and asked "What?"

"Do you?" she persisted, nearly pleading for an answer, but to no response, "Well, I do." She said bluntly. "I just…hope you can help me with it." She sighed, picking up the platypus doll and placing it in an upright position to the right of her and staring at it intently.

"River…" Steve said softly, almost begging for her to reconsider.

River didn't look at him, she only closed her eyes and told him, "When the papers for my treatment get here, I will not sign them." There was no hesitation in her voice anymore, only conviction and determination. "What you so with our money is up to you," she admitted, "But if you would grant my wish, I want you to use it to finish building that house." She asked her husband, putting the decision back into his hands. She rolled over and looked Steve in his now tear-filled eyes and grabbed his hand gently, lovingly, "…And then, for every day that you live there, I want you to watch over her." She requested with a small, hopeful, smile. "Visit her. Speak to her. Comfort her." She instructed him, "…I don't want her to be alone anymore." She sighed sadly.

Mr. Small was now crying silently, desperately holding onto River's hand as tears streamed down his cheeks, "And what about you?" he asked helplessly.

River thought for a moment as she rolled back to her original position on the bed, then she muttered a single word, "…Happy." She smiled widely and repeated, "I will be happy."

There was a minute of silence between the couple, neither one able to speak until River broke the silence, "Steve?" she asked, rolling onto her side to look at him more clearly.

"Yes?" he muttered softly.

"I made this." She spoke softly, handing him something that neither Gumball or Teri could see from their places by the piano. Mr. Small turned towards the two, attempting to get a better lighting to examine the blue and yellow paper rabbit he had been handed. "Tell me what it is." She requested.

"what?" Steve asked, confused at the sudden topic swap.

"Just tell me what it is." She persisted.

The old cloud man carefully examined his gift, before he responded, "It's a rabbit, like all the others you made." He answered, taking a look around the room at the scattered origami that littered the floor.

"What else?" she inquired, making Mr. Small look much more carefully at the paper rodent.

"Um, it's made of paper." He concluded.

"What else?" she repeated.

"It's body is yellow, and the rest is blue." He continued, staring intently at his gift as if it was hiding some kind of secret from him.

"Good. What else?" River repeated again with an approving nod.

"Look River," Steve said, putting the blue and yellow rabbit down next to its bleach white brothers on the ground. He then turned back to her and said, "I wrote a song. It's for you."

"Okay." She replied bluntly.

"Well…would you like to hear it?" he asked, now nervous.

"Yes." She answered with a small smile. Steve smiled back and proceeded to walk over to the piano before he was stopped by River saying, "You didn't have to bring the piano up, I can hear you just fine with the door open." She told him almost apologetically upon realizing why he had brought the piano up to their bedroom.

Mr. Small continued walking towards the piano, sitting down at the bench and getting himself situated. "It's called 'For River'" he announced proudly.

River giggled, "Why so cliché?" she asked.

Steve blushed with embarrassment, rubbing the back of his neck and muttering, "It's…just a placeholder." He then began to press the keys carefully, playing his song. Gumball immediately recognized the tune as the one that the twins had been playing at the house before they had entered Mr. Small's mind.

Teri walked over to her partner and asked, "Who is this 'Anya' they were talking about?" she waited for an answer, but soon realized that Gumball would not be much help on the subject. "If she's so important, shouldn't we have seen her in his late memories?" she continued, despite that Gumball couldn't have helped if he tried.

"I guess he didn't keep that promise after all." Gumball sighed, disappointment sinking in as he said that about his favorite teacher form junior high.

"Unless…" Teri began, looking out the window that was behind River's bed.

"Unless what?" Gumball asked curiously.

Teri stared out the window for a moment before she gave up and muttered, "Nevermind.

It didn't take too long before they discovered that the pot of flowers beside the piano was the memento they were looking for, Gumball prepped it and went on ahead, but Teri stayed to look around a moment or two longer.

She rewound the memory to several hours before they had arrived and went downstairs. It was obvious that this was not the same house from before, it was much smaller and bare in comparison of the large house that Steve would acquire later on. Downstairs there was Steve and another man examining the piano, which was now downstairs, a glass of pickled olives resting on top with the cap off.

"I'm telling you, there's just no way." The unfamiliar man said to Steve.

"What if we take it apart, Nicholas?" Steve asked hopefully to his friend.

"Look at us, Steve. We aren't exactly at the ripe age of piano moving." He pointed out, gesturing to both the graying cloud man, then to himself. Mr. Small frowned deeply as he looked regretfully down to the piano. "You know what, if this means that much to you, I'll pay for the professionals to do this." Nicholas offered generously. "…I can't help saving that house for you, so this is the least I can do." He offered, making Steve smile widely before hugging his friend happily.

Teri decided that she had seen enough and decided to rejoin with Gumball at the next memory. The room vanished from around her and was replaced by the cool summer night air and ocean breeze of the lighthouse. Gumball was sitting at the edge of the cliff, rocking his leg back and forth as he looked out to the stars over the sea. The smiling cat perked his ears at the sound of Teri's feet crinkling on the grass, he turned to see his colleague standing behind him, looking towards the stars that had captivated his attention not five seconds before. "Finally!" he grunted, getting back to his feet as he spoke.

Teri turned her sight from the stars, to Gumball, then finally to the same flowers that had been the memento to get here, but were now growing wild on the hillside. Gumball pointed off to something behind Teri chuckling, "heh, look what we have here." Teri turned to see the bare bones of the large house that Steve had built and where the bodies of Gumball and Teri resided in the real world. It was almost an eerie sight, the wooden skeleton of the house showing where the outlines of the house would be, but were not there yet. Teri almost considered them ghostly reminders of what she had seen.

Gumball looked past the wooden beams and to the newly laid floor and used tools that strewn it. "I bet they saw this cliff, and thought it wasn't dangerous enough without people living on it." He joked, trying to make Teri smile, but when he saw that she hadn't he decided not to press on.

The two walked to the front of the construction site, where the main door to the house would eventually be, and saw Johnny sitting on a pile of wooden floorboards, wiping the sweat from his brow and panting heavily. He was probably in his late fifties in this memory, still in good enough shape to work and definitely still had that youthful gleam in his eye, despite being somewhat diminished. It was nice for the two to see the man that they knew again, the way that they knew him.

A woman approached from the path leading through the forest, approaching Steve and saying "Nick called and said I should come." She proceeded to walk up and sit down next to Steve, digging through her purse with one hand and muttering, "I brought you pickled olives. They're your favorite, right?" she asked, pulling out a glass jar of the small green orbs. Steve didn't answer, he just looked out into space silently.

The woman was a green fox, about as old as Steve and had greying hear on the top of her head. The woman placed the jar of olives carefully down before continuing, "…I heard about River." She admitted, "Will she be okay?" she asked worriedly.

Steve sighed sadly, "Her illness was just diagnosed in its late stage. Fortunately, it's treatable." He replied. "But the medical bills…" he continued, realization sinking in as he trailed off, "We can't afford to finish building this house, Isabelle." He admitted ashamedly. "We can barely afford to pay for her treatment." He explained to Isabelle in a quiet and downhearted tone. Steve propped his arm up on his knee and rested his forehead on it for support before he went-on, "I'm just relieved that she'll be okay, but…" he trailed of regretfully, "You don't know how much this place means to her." He tried to explain. "She's going to be heartbroken." He sighed worryingly and depressed.

Isabelle stared at the jar of pickled olives that she had brought for him, thinking deeply. "…I'd help, but Ted and I have been barely getting by since the market crashed." She informed him regretfully. The two friends sat in silence for a while, just staring at the glass jar and thinking. "What are you going to do now?" she finally asked, breaking the silence.

Mr. Small staggered in thought, trying to come up with a solution, "I'm…I'm going to tell her that we can make it. I'm going to tell her that we can afford everything." He admitted, feeling terrible for even thinking about lying to River. "I just…I don't want her to do anything crazy." He conceded worryingly.

"You shouldn't lie to her." Isabelle stated bluntly.

"You don't understand Isabelle." He shot back, "If she found out, I'm not sure which she'd choose."

"So what?" Isabelle asked calmly, turning to look at Steve. "If she chooses not to save herself for the sake of this place, then so be it." She said, catching Steve totally of guard. "It's what she really wants." She continued to tell her opinion, "I really hate it when you neurotypicals think you know what's best for others." She defended irritated.

Steve was silent for a while, thinking over what Isabelle had just said. "…I hate when you call me that, Izzy." He finally said. "Do you think this is all about her?" he asked painfully. "What about me, Isabelle? After all these years, am I not allowed to be selfish even once?" he asked in an almost shout, angry at the world. Isabelle didn't respond, leaving Stave until he cooled down. He eventually broke down crying, "…I don't want to be alone, Isabelle." He cried as he hid his face in his folded arms. He cried for a while before the anger returned, he got up in one quick motion and stood on the grass, shouting "I'm not going to let her die!"

"That's arrogant." Isabelle argued disappointedly.

"I don't care." He announced, walking away angrily.

"Where are you going?" she asked, standing up as well.

"I'm going to pick something from this cliff and bring it back to her." He said stopping, but without looking back to her. "It'll at least bring her some comfort." He sighed.

"That doesn't make what you're doing any less wrong." Pointed out sympathetically, but still sternly. She reached back into her purse and retrieved a small wooden box. "Nick told me to give you this." She said as she opened the box, letting a small sting tune to play from it. Steve turned around and stared at the box with sad eyes. "He said it's called 'Everything's Alright'." She said, letting the music play and fill the night air with an orchestra of crickets, ocean waves, the summer breeze, and the small stringed tune of the box.

Steve turned around upon hearing the name of the song, "It's not." He said simply before walking away down the path, leaving Isabelle alone.

Gumball watched as his favorite teacher walked away, wishing that he could help, but being even more tortured in knowing that he can't. "Poor guy." He muttered sympathetically before searching the area for the next memento. "I guess we know why River wouldn't sign the medical papers before…later…whatever! Time travel's confusing as hell." He trailed of in a grumpy voice.

"It's not time travel, this is a memory, it just so happens that it's in the past." Teri contradicted him, testing the music box to see if it was the memento.

"Are there any other kind of memories?" Gumball asked in a way to point out Teri's mistake. "besides, it's kinda like time travel, we see past events and change them to alter the outcome, plus it almost is kinda like giving the customer's an entire second life." He pointed out as he tested the jar of pickled olives before realizing that they were the memento.

The two prepared and activated the memento, causing the entire world to go bleach white except for the two of them and he jar of pickled olives. A new world formed around them, they were in a warm bar, it wasn't much other than a small room with a small bar tucked in the corner and three circle tables in the other three corners, but it seemed nice enough. Gumball and Teri took the seats of the table in the left corner, near the one that Mr. Small, River, Nicholas, and Isabelle were all sitting at.

"So you guys are really going for it, huh?" Nicholas asked River and Steve from across the table.

"Yep! The construction's starting in just a few months." Steve responded excitedly, smiling an ear-to-ear grin that really made him look younger than he was. "It's a bit of a squeeze; we had to split the payment." He admitted with a small shrug. "But with financing, we'll make do." He reassured both Nicholas, and himself.

"How wonderful, having your dream hose built on such a beautiful sight." Isabelle chimed in with genuine happiness for her friends.

"You had your wedding at that lighthouse near there all those years ago, didn't you?" Nicholas asked.

"That's not all that's special about it." Steve hinted, "We have a long history with that place." He said, turning to River with a smile.

"Well, it's good to have some good news at a get-together for once!" Nicholas exclaimed happily, letting out a small, but merry laugh. "Cheers and congratulations, ya two!" he toasted.

"Hey, cheers!" John replied, lifting an empty jar as a toast.

The four of them laughed for a while before Isabelle said, "Be right back, I'm gonna get some fresh air."

"Me too." River chimed in, following Isabelle and leaving Steve and Nicolas alone at the table.

Once the ladies were outside, Nicolas broke the ice by saying, "Well buddy, it's been a while."

"hasn't it? Who knew how hard it is to get across a few cities nowadays." Steve commented with a chuckle, which Nicolas joined in on.

"That River, still so quiet, huh?" Nicolas commented, thinking how she had not said a single word the entire time they had been talking.

Mr. Small shrugged, "Eh, she's actually been talkative at home, and with Isabelle." He remarked, "I guess she's just not used to you." He guessed.

"Hahah, so I'm the bad guy here, huh?" He asked with a humorous voice. "Oh hey, so did you tell River that thing from back then?" he asked blindly, not able to think of the specifics and snapping his fingers loudly as he tried to remember the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

"I did." Steve said bluntly, not needing specifics to understand what his friend had meant.

"So how did she take it?" Nicolas asked.

Steve sighed slightly, "For the most part, she took it well…" he explained, "But something bugs me." He muttered suspiciously. "Ever since the incident, she's been making these strange rabbits out of paper." He commented, showing off multiple paper cuts on the tips of his fingers.

"Origami rabbits?" he asked curiously.

Mr. Small nodded, "Yes. Lots of them."

"Hah, I used to fold origami animals for my daughter all the time." Nicolas said with a nostalgic chuckle. "What's wrong with that?"

Mr. Small thought hard for a moment before he replied, "I don't think it's the same thing." He murmured thoughtfully. "She's been doing nothing but make rabbits, day in and day out. Our house is literally filled with them now." He continued nervously.

"Didn't Isabelle say that something like that is a common trait with River's condition?" Nicolas thought out loud.

"Yes, but something doesn't feel right this time. When I ask her about it she never answers. Instead, she gets this distant look in her eyes…It's almost as if she wants something from me." He told his friend, pondering it's meaning. "And the strange thing is…I feel like there's something I owe her, too." He said with a slightly guilty voice.

"Have you asked Isabelle?" Nicolas asked.

"Yes." Mr. Small nodded, "She said she talked to her about it, but got nothing."

"Well, I'm certainly not one to inquire, but I'll tell you this: I've known you since middle school, and you're notorious for overthinking. You're probably just imagining things, there's no need too worked up." Nicolas warned.

Mr. Small looked down to his empty jar and muttered, "usually when someone says that, something's gone wrong." He sighed. "But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt… you're probably right." He conceded.

"Probably? I'm always right Steve." He said jokingly.

**Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed, and please leave a review on how you like the story. Am I doing a good job, what would you do differently, what do you think will happen next? Anything from you guys is great to hear! Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

Gumball and Teri sat at their table, watching from across the bar as Mr. Small and his friend Nicolas chatted, not a word was spoken between the two until silence finally fell on Mr. Small and Nicolas. "Wait, so even he himself never knew what was up with those rabbits?" Gumball asked, exasperated and with a strange feeling, as if he had been let down by Mr. Small somehow.

"Forget about the stupid rabbits, we've got bigger problems." Teri snapped back, making Gumball feel worried that he might have missed something. "It's a confined memory, and there're no mementos anywhere." She pointed out as Gumball scanned the small bar, proving to himself that what she said was true.

Gumball laughed, waving his wand to her in a goofy manner, "Don't worry, we can probably draw one out from him." He said with a smile.

"How?" Teri asked, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.

"Leave it to me, I just gotta give the bartender a quick visit first." He told her, getting up from his seat and walking over to the bar, turning his visibility and interactivity of the memory back on.

The bartender gave a practiced smile and spoke his rehearsed line, "Hi, can I get you anything?"

"Ah yes. Can I get a jar of pickled olives?" he asked, looking past the barkeep and scanning to see if he had one.

The barkeep pulled an unopened jar from under the bar, "Cash or credit?" he asked.

"Cheque." Gumball answered, reaching into his pocket.

The bartender seemed a little nervous, his usual routine being tampered with, "Er… I'm sorry, we don't take cheques." He told Gumball, placing a hand over the jar.

"Oh… Just put it on my tab then." Gumball responded with slight unease.

The bartender was about to hand over the jar, when all of a sudden he asked, "Wait, does that mean you don't have any money?" he asked warily.

There was an awkward moment of silence where Gumball stood frozen in his spot and Teri rolled her eyes at him from her seat in the corner. "…You're so getting resetted." Gumball warned the barkeep in an annoyed tone. The young cat pulled a remote like thing out from his jacket pocket and pressed a small green button.

The world felt like it had skipped, kinda like the small black screen in-between scenes in a show, then the world came back to the way it was moments before. "Hi, can I get you anything?" the bartender asked in the same voice he had used the first time.

Gumball smiled evilly, knowing that he had found the loophole he needed to get it right this time. "Hello! Could I get a jar of pickled olives, please?" Gumball asked.

The barkeep pulled an unopened jar from under the bar, "Cash or credit?" he asked.

"Just put it on my tab. I feel like spending BIG tonight." Gumball said, emphasizing the word 'Big'.

"Oh, thank you sir!" The barkeep said with a smile, happily handing over the jar to the 'big spender'. "Here's your pickled olives."

"Thanks bro, you'll be getting some huge tips today." He promised the barkeep.

"Thank you, sir!" the bartender said eagerly with a wide smile.

Back at her table Teri face palmed, mumbling, "You're such an ass, Gumball."

Gumball walked away from the bar towards the table where Steve and Nicolas were sitting. As he passed Teri he whispered, "Loosen up, will yeah." He said as he carried the pickled olives over to Mr. Small.

Before he got there, he realized that Mr. Small might recognize him and pulled out the small remote from his pocket again and gave himself the disguise he had programed for himself. He then approached the table where they sat and asked, "Why, is that a bottle of pickled olives you're sporting?"

Steve turned to Gumball, who to him looked like a 30 something brown haired man, or what Gumball liked to call 'the average modern videogame character'. "Yeah. Are you a fellow olive lover?" he asked happily.

"Indeed I am! Just got a fresh bottle of them myself, in fact!" Gumball exclaimed, feigning surprisment at the supposed coincidence. "Mind if I join you?" Gumball asked.

"Sure, why don't you grab a seat? We'll down a bottle together." Steve said eagerly, happy to get a new bottle to eat.

"Oh… Yeah, that sounds just swell." Gumball muttered, realizing for the first time the giant overlook in otherwise flawless plan, he hated pickled olives. Teri, disable taste simulation, NOW!" he coughed over to Teri, who was dying laughing at her table.

She was still unable to be seen or heard by Mr. Small, shouting over to her collegue, "Oh Gumball, I don't think I want to."

Gumball stared toward her with eyes of pure anger, muttering under his breath as he pulled up a chair, "I'm so gonna get you back for this." The bottle lasted nearly an hour, with Steve sharing some of the most boring stories Gumball had ever heard in his life as the miserable scientist choked down olive after olive. Eventually the jar was empty and Gumball breathed a sigh of relief, but Mr. Small left and returned back from the bar with two more jars, filled to the brim with the vinegary green orbs. Gumball nearly died from fright at the mere sight.

Eventually, after two more grueling bottles, Gumball convinced Mr. Small to show him a piece of paper, after which Gumball froze the memory, gagging wildly and loudly, and sputtering "Finally!" in relief.

"How were those olives, Gumball." Teri asked, still laughing at her partners suffering.

"Oh, shut your mouth." Gumball retorted angrily, preparing the piece of paper as a memento and activating it.

They appeared on top of the lighthouse, this time at sunset, as the sun sank into the shimmering ocean once more. Mr. Small River were on the ground, walking up from the trail to the lighthouse. Even from up high on top of the lighthouse, Teri could tell that the two were much younger. Mr. Small and River walked up to the lighthouse stood at the door.

"CRIKEY NUTCRACKERS!" Gumball shouted, backing quickly toward the center and away from the edge of the small roof.

"You're not Australian." Teri said calmly, not sounding scared in the slightest.

"Who cares?! We're like 20 billion nanometers off the ground and standing on a damn flagpole!" he said frightened.

Teri chuckled at Gumball's gross use of over exaggeration. "Just jump down; it's not like you can be hurt here." She pointed out to her panicking friend.

"Are you kidding me?! It's like a fricken sky-dive!" he exclaimed, inching closer to the edge and peering over the edge. "You can't stay on here, you can't get off, God, I hate it when this happens." He rambled on to himself, still peering attentively over the side, not noticing Teri getting behind him. "I swear if this plac-" he began, but before he could go any farther Teri pushed him as hard as she could, tipping him over the side.

The blue cat fell like a rock, screaming the entire way down until he landed face first on the ground. "TERI, WHAT THE $ %#?!" he shouted angrily up to the paper bear.

Teri walked calmly to the edge and jumped off, floating gently down to ground and landing on her feet. "Wuss." She said to the steaming Gumball. "Why didn't you just land on your feet like cats always do?" she asked.

"That is a stereotype, and it's a lot harder when you aren't made of paper!" he replied angrily, but Teri shushed him as River began to talk.

River stared at the letter of foreclosure on the door of the lighthouse, which was in poor repairs and had all of its shattered and boarded up. "…Why would they abandon her like this?" she asked sadly.

Steve sighed sadly as well, "I suppose she's just no longer needed." He guessed.

"No longer needed…?" she asked, turning back to her husband surprised.

"By ships, I mean." He explained, giving River a small sense of relief that her husband still cared for the lighthouse. "You know how it is, now that everything has GPS and all that." He continued to explain his previous comment.

River turned back to the lighthouse, turning her back on Steve, who was left in uncomfortable silence. "Look, River." He began, attempting to break the silence between them. He walked past her and tore down the foreclosure note, "This place means a lot to me too, and I've been thinking…" he started, turning back to River while tucking the paper into his pocket. "In our current state, things have been pretty stable. If we save well, in a few years, we could afford to build a house on top of here." He turned back to the lighthouse, giving a final lookover before he continued. "It's hoing to be a squeeze, but I'm su-" he began, but River promptly interrupted him.

"We'd be able to see her from the window!" River exclaimed ecstatically, "In the morning, at night, we'd always be nearby! And… and we could walk here any time!" she said, her happiness growing with every passing moment that her imagination was left to pain the picture of their life here. "She'll never be alone again Steve!" she said happily, running up and hugging the surprised cloud man. "I'll be able to watch over her every day!" she said softer, but still as energetic as she wrapped her arms lovingly around her husband.

"Yeah, we will." Steve said, hugging her back.

"Good for them." Teri smiled, moved by the love and happiness of the two.

"You're joking, right?" Gumball asked, causing Teri to look towards him confusedly. Gumball sighed sadly "You remember what happens, don't you?" he asked her, sighing "It's like watching a train wreck."

Teri thought for a second, choosing her words very carefully, before she spoke. "The ending isn't any more important than any of the moments leading to it." She told Gumball, "The important thing is that over here, they are happy." She smiled, looking at the two before she froze the memory, capturing the looks of joy and unison on their faces. "Let's move on." She said, walking down the path, searching for the next memento to prepare.

Half-way down the path Gumball gasped loudly, finally realizing something that he was confused on for a while now. "They were referring to the lighthouse as 'Anya' weren't they?" he asked.

"I suppose so." Teri agreed, realizing that it would explain a lot of the other memories.

"Then, that River… she declined treatment for the sake of a lighthouse?" he said, almost shocked. "Isn't that a bit too extreme?" he thought out loud.

Teri shrugged, "I've seen stranger things in the course of the job." She admitted, thinking back on the weird things that were in people's memories.

"Me too, but ugh… I can never wrap my head around it." He replied, being very particular with what words he chose.

Teri was curious about the way Gumball had said that, but turned back and said, "It's none of our business anyway. …she's not our client." She reminded Gumball as well as herself that this was a serious job. The two continued to walk down the trail. The trail was surrounded by scattered trees and shrubs, it was odd not to see the house where they remembered it, the area just seamed empty without it.

Eventually thy stumbled upon a light brown paper bunny lying at the end of the path, it was the memento, clear and simple. Gumball prepared it and activated it with skill, hopping on to the next memory with teri and their rodent sculpture being the only other things to survive the bleaching and recoloring of the world.

They appeared again in the small bedroom of Mr. Small's first house, the paper rabbit on the floor alone with Steve staring at it curiously. Steve was younger again, this time with a proud mustache on his upper lip. "…Hm, this must be right after we left for high school." Gumball thought aloud. Steve left the room, shouting River's name in an attempt to look for her, but not before he collected up the rabbit and placed it carefully on the bedside table.

Teri and Gumball followed him out the room and down the steps, but stopped to marvel at the grand piano tucked away in the corner of the room. "How the heck did they move this thing upstairs?" Teri asked curiously.

Gumball shrugged, then smiled "Who knows, but I bet it'd be a piece of cake for the TARDIS." He laughed.

Teri thought seriously for a moment without smiling before she replied, "Not really; you can't even get it through its door." She theorized, trying to tilt the piano every which way in her imagination.

Gumball was genuinely surprised that Teri knew what the TARDIS was, he had never thought of her as a Dr. Who fan. "…Hm, true. Well that settles it; moving pianos is a pain for everybody." He concluded. "It'd probably take an entire episode to get it inside." He commented.

This caused a moment of silence between the two, were both of them pondered an episode dedicated to moving a piano. "… I wouldn't mind seeing such an episode." She admitted, causing both of them to laugh.

"Me neither. It sounds pretty epic." Gumball replied, laughing harder than he had the entire night. They followed Mr. Small to the other room, passing a couple boxes of printer paper on the way out, "Uh-oh, I think I know where this is going!" Gumball said, pointing out the boxes.

The entered the room to see River sitting at a table, folding a piece of paper while dozens of white paper bunnies sat all around her.

Steve scanned the room worriedly, "What are you making there?" he asked River, who was performing the final folds.

"Rabbits." She replied bluntly. She looked up at Steve and asked, "Did you see the rabbit I left for you?"

"Yeah." Steve responded emotionlessly.

"Tell me about that rabbit." She asked him, confusing Mr. Small.

"Huh?" he asked, unsure of what River had meant.

"Describe the rabbit." She persisted, reaching out and grabbing a new piece of paper as she said this.

"It was yellow." He started, River nodding and gesturing him to continue, "A bit puffy." He continued with a shrug, struggling to come up with more appropriate descriptions.

"And?" she asked, hoping for more.

"Well… it's just a paper rabbit. I don't know how else to describe it." He finally said, making River frown and to speed up her folding. "…You're acting strange River. Is something wrong?" He asked worriedly. She never responded, only folding. "River…?"

The memory stopped there with Teri freezing it. "I don't know about you, but I'm getting some inverse déjà vu." Gumball said as he looked around the room of rabbits.

"I think I know of her condition, but this is rather odd even for that." Teri said slowly, examining River from across the room.

"You think she's…" Gumball's voice trailed off sadly.

"Do you?" Teri asked in response.

"… Perhaps, who knows?" Gumball replied, keeping some hope, he then sighed again, "But it's like you said, she's not our client." He reminded himself unhappily. "Let's just get what we came here for over with." He muttered, beginning the search for the next memento.

They found the memento in the all-to-familiar form of the stuffed toy platypus that was sitting on the floor next to River, Gumball prepared the memento as Teri muttered "So this is the day she started it, huh?" As she finished her thought, Gumball finished preparing and activated the memento.

It sent them back to the trail by the old lighthouse. Gumball and Teri trotted their usual route up to where the house would eventually come to rest. The sun had set and the stars glistened in the sky, providing just enough light to guide the two on their journey.

"This is where the house used to be, right?" Teri asked, judging based on the trees surrounding them.

"The house that never should've been." Gumball answered gloomily, thinking about what was lost so that it could be built.

The two continued down the path until they saw River and Steve sitting on a log at the top of a cliff, just a few yards from the edge, looking down at the active lighthouse, an old green backpack lying just besides them. It was the first time either of the scientists had ever seen it working.

"Is that why you approached me back then?" River asked, turning away from Steve with disappointment.

"Yeah." Steve admitted, turning towards River.

"What about now?" she asked.

"I suppose it's just a part of it." He confessed, feeling guilty as he said it. "Look, it was a long time ago." He tried to explain. "It's…not too relevant now, but Izzy said that I should tell you the truth." He continued on. "I shouldn't have tainted our first meeting like that." He apologized, looking down to the ground with regret.

River got up from her spot, which Steve took as a sign that she wanted to be alone, but instead she brought out a hacky sack from her pocket and tossed it to him. "Can you throw this as far as where Anya's at?" she asked.

Steve looked up with a confused look and asked, "I don't know. Do you want me to try?"

"Would you?" she asked innocently.

Mr. Small got up and picked up the hacky sack. The cocked his arm back and threw it as far and hard as he could towards the glowing lighthouse. As he did so, River followed it until she was at the edge of the cliff, "River!" he shouted, stopping River in her tracks, "Are you insane?! Get away from there!" he ordered in a terrified voice. River stood there at the edge for a moment before she backed away and sat down again on the log.

"I think this memory isn't too far from the last." Teri said, freezing the memory as she did so.

"Think they may be connected?" Gumball asked, his voice almost deadened by the terrible knowledge of their future pain.

Teri nodded regretfully as she silently began to search for the next memento. It didn't take two geniuses to figure out that it was the backpack, but in this case it did. Teri prepared it this time, activating it quickly, sending the two along the backwards mission to which they had been assigned.

**That's the end of chapter 4, leave a review on what you thought about it and try and guess what happens next, cause I bet a lot of you didn't guess a lot of this so far, and that's ok. Anyway, I hope you liked it and I'll post the next chapter soon.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

Teri and Gumball appeared in a bookstore's backroom, where Steve, Nicolas, and Isabelle were all sitting at a round table talking. Gumball and Teri took their seats at the other table, still invisible and unable to interact with the other people from the memory, not unless they wanted to of course.

"Holy wow!" Gumball exclaimed, seeing Mr. Small so young, "He must be in his twenties now, how long did we hop back?" Gumball asked, but Teri ignored him as the three friends at the other table began to talk in low voices and in serious tones.

"Everyone with it is different, Steve." Isabelle tried to explain to Steve, "Just because she and I share the same syndrome, doesn't mean we share the same head."

"But you must be able to help somehow…" Mr. Small pleaded desperately, "Everything was okay at first, but now, she's even more aloof than before. Even when we're in the same room, she's never really… there." Steve said as he shook his head wearily, "It's starting to take a toll on me. I just don't know how to handle it anymore." He admitted sadly.

"Well, I can't speak for her, but many of us do long for connections. Though, being able to articulate is a different story." Isabelle attempted to explain, "Just because she struggles to express it, it doesn't mean she doesn't feel anything. Sometimes you just have to have faith that she cares."

"That's pretty difficult to do, day in and day out." Steve complained.

Isabelle nodded and whispered, "I know" in a comforting and gentle voice.

Nicolas raised an eyebrow and asked, "Wait, but why do you seem so normal, Izzy?" he asked his wife, getting slightly off track from the conversation, "I mean, don't you have the same condition?" he asked tentatively.

Isabelle turned her husband and raised her index finger as she spoke, "For one, I was diagnosed when I was still young. With effort, it's not impossible to acquire a guise of social norms systematically." She explained to the two men, who were both listening intently. She looked from Nicolas to Steve before she sighed and admitted "But you know what? I both envy and pity River." The two men immediately made faces of mixed shock and confusion, "Me… I'm an actress, because I've been doing it all my life… not only on stage, but off-stage… and at practically every moment. I've gotten good at it, because acting is the only option I have." She explained sadly, "It's the only way for me to be 'normal'" Steve blinked hurriedly, thinking about what his wife must be going through. "But River… she never did that. She remained an outcast and refused to learn to step against it." She said, almost enviously, "…I don't know if it was by choice or by limit, whether bravery or cowardice." She continued in that jealous voice before stopping and realizing that the two men who were sharing the table with her began to give her worried looks. "…There are days when I just can't stand faking it anymore." She sighed, not daring to blink for fear of beginning a flood of tears that she knew she couldn't stop once started, "…And then, I realize that it's too late. The Isabelle that people know is all an act, and the real me has long become a stranger." She continued, beating her instincts to cry as she finished talking. "I think in the end… I just envy her."

Just then Teri froze the memory, making it a melancholy portrait for her and her partner to examine and control to their heart's desire.

"Huh, I've never met a woman with it before." Gumball commented lightly, his usual chipper and upbeat mood slowly, but noticeably, eroding away. He had always prepared himself to not become emotionally attached while on the job, but he had never thought of how it might be if he was to do the same for someone that he knew.

"then technically, you still haven't met one." Teri reminded her partner in a professional tone, keeping much more control over her emotional attachments for the job then Gumball was. "This is not any of our business," she said with a sigh, standing up from her seat, "This is obviously private to him, let's just move on." She ordered, making sure that she wouldn't have to stay in the same memory as this particularly dark and helpless one. She had kept her empathy for this case in check for the most part so far, but she didn't know how much longer she could in this memory.

Gumball nodded, quietly un-pausing the memory as he stood up and followed Teri out of the room and into the larger area of the bookstore. They immediately saw River standing near one of the shelves and reading a book that she had discovered. All around her were white, undetailed bodies, which meandered along like harmless ghosts. "Our job would be much less creepy if people would just remember faces more often." Gumball remarked as one of the dull and uninteresting apparitions walked through the blue cat, who was once again unable to interact with the world around him and invisible to it as well.

Steve walked up to his wife, who had either not noticed the tall cloud man or had and decided to not take her attention away from her newly discovered treasure. "Anything new today?" he asked, frowning at her lack of recognition upon his arrival.

"No." she responded bluntly.

"What are you reading there then?" he asked, peering over her shoulder to try and get a glance at the title.

"The emperor's new clothes." She said, letting her arms fall to her waist, carrying the book along with them until they were out of her line of sight. "I loved this when I was young."

"Still do, huh?" Steve asked, looking over the shelves at the old children's books, periodically finding one or two that he knew from his youth.

"Of course." She spoke softer now, "Just for different reasons."

Steve continued to search the shelves until he came across a title that peeked his interest and evoked a number of strange feelings in the man that confused him deeply, due to the fact that the emotions contrasted each other intensely. He picked up the thin novel and showed it to his wife with a small smile, "I used to love this series when I was young." He told her, holding up the title for her to see, _'Animorphs' _

"I know. Your mother gave you a book from it as a wedding present." She pointed out with a strange grin.

"Heh, yeah, that was one odd wedding present." Steve blushed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I guess I was pretty obsessed with it when I was a kid." He admitted with almost a hint of uncertainty in his voice that made both River and the scientist visitors look to him with arched eyebrows and confused looks.

River turned to him, looking at him with a new face of sudden realization, "Why haven't you read them since?" she asked, holding her copy of the emperor's new clothes tightly to her chest as if someone would come up and attempt to snatch it away at any moment.

"Hm?" Steve mumbled in reply, still focused heavily on his own thoughts.

"I saw them. They're collecting dust in the garage." She spoke, remembering the sad sight of the forgotten and neglected books.

"Well… I just grew out of them, I guess." Steve responded with the nonchalant shrug of a shoulder before he turned back to the stand of brightly illustrated children's books, "I mean, they're children's books."

River's eyes looked down to the floor sadly, "What's wrong with reading children's books?" she asked, looking to the book she held in her hand, "They're comforting."

Steve looked from the book in River's hand then back to the colorful covers of the multiple books on the shelf, a strange feeling of sad nostalgia filled the man, reminding him of pain and confusion that he couldn't pin point as a memory. He finally sighed, "…I suppose so."

River appeared content with Steve's answer and turned her attention back to her book. She looked back to the book in her hands, flipping it to see the price and smiling a small smile to herself as she nearly whispered "I think I'm going to get this one." After her announcement she walked past Steve and over to the check-out desk, leaving Steve to ponder his mixed emotions.

"And… freeze!" Gumball shouted dramatically, pressing the button on his remote to freeze the world around them. "So what do you think the memento is?" he asked, looking towards Teri for her input.

The paper bear rolled her eyes at the cat, who cracked his trademark goofy smile, "What?" Teri demanded, her annoyance now replaced by curiosity of the friendly cat's grin.

"Oh, nothing." The azure cat replied sheepishly, "It's just, whenever you do that you always point something obvious out to me." He answered in an equally strange voice.

"So… you're laughing at yourself?" Teri asked, now completely thrown off.

"Yeah, I guess so. It's always better to laugh at yourself from time to time then take yourself too seriously, in my opinion." He answered nervously.

Teri chuckled as she walked over to where an immobile Mr. Small was still staring at the animorphs novel. This made Gumball gasp slightly at the obviousness of the memento, then did a slight face palm while still grinning at his own stupidity. "Come on and help me prepare the thing." Teri ordered as she began work on the memento.

Soon it was prepared and ready to be used to jump to the next memory in the chain. The Scientists activated it and allowed the world around them to be bleached a shear shade of white, and then for the small and enclosed book store to be replaced by an open grassy field. Undetailed translucent bodies mixed in with regular looking people as they all gathered around large wooden tables. They all seemed to be gathering there things and preparing to leave.

"Aw, everyone's leaving already? But I just got here!" Gumball joked as he observed the mix of detailed and undetailed memories shuffle past one another, muttering barely audible farewells to each other.

"Seems to happen to you a lot at parties." Teri retorted, making her partner laugh heartily, forgetting momentarily the sad sights they had seen as they jumped from memory to distant memory in their former teacher's mind.

Gumball gathered himself back into a faux professional appearance, acting to be hurt by her joke. "Oh, go save your childish jabs for the insecure." Making Teri laugh along with her partner. The two laughed until they realized with a sigh that they were on a clock and there really was no telling just how long Mr. Small would hang on in the real world. The melancholy moment of sudden realization was sobering for the two professionals, but it was still difficult for them to keep this experience strictly professional, they were learning so much about their old hippy teacher that it almost felt like he was here with them, getting younger with every memory jump.

The two silently searched the party for any sign of Steve or River, but found none. Eventually they realized that they were close to the lighthouse that they had become so accustomed to seeing alongside the large house, which had not even been built yet. It didn't take the two very much longer to guess where the couple would be, so they began the short walk up the path and past the trees to the lighthouse.

By the time the two scientists had arrived the moon was low in the night sky, just above the ocean's dark and shimmering surface. Steve and River were sitting side by side, staring at the large glowing orb as it rose higher and higher, backs pressed against the side of the still functioning lighthouse. Steve was dressed in a dark black tuxedo and River was wearing simple, yet elegant, white wedding dress, which gently let it's lace and veil blow gently in the breeze.

"…Do you feel any different?" Steve asked nervously twisting the gold band that wrapped around left hand ring finger. River turned to look at him and he looked back to her in response, "Now that we got the rings on, I mean." He explained.

River turned back to the darkening sky, watching as one by one the stars began to appear like light bulbs being flicked on by some unseen switch. "No." she replied bluntly, but innocently, "Why do you?"

Steve took a few moments before he responded to his new bride, "Actually…Yeah, I think so." He admitted with a small, sad smile.

River looked sadly out onto the ocean, "What is it like?" she asked quietly.

Steve opened his mouth to describe the strange new feeling inside of him, but he closed it again, realizing that he had no idea what to call it. "It's just… different." He tried to explain, stumbling over his words, "Just the responsibilities, I suppose."

"Responsibilities…" River repeated, turning her head to look at the brick wall of the lighthouse that they were propped against, "Do you like the name 'Anya'?" she asked, running her hands across the hard mortar rivers that flowed in-between the red clay bricks. Steve looked to his wife with an arched eyebrow. "Would you… like to name her 'Anya'?"

The two sat in silence, for what seemed like ages, before Steve sighed softly, "I understand" he looked up the red brick walls, all the way to the top where the glass room rested on top. He cracked a gentle and loving smile as he replied, "Yeah… Anya's a good name for her."

The two looked into each other's eyes peacefully, and then suddenly Steve got to his feet and reached out his hand to the still sitting River, saying excitedly, "Hey, come with me!" he led the two of them to the front door of the lighthouse, leading his wife into the beautiful lighthouse that she so loved.

Gumball went to fallow, but Teri stuck her hand out to stop her partner. "Hold on… just let me… got it!" she muttered as she fiddled with her remote until she got the response that she wanted. "We can still hear what they say, but they can still have their privacy." Teri explained to Gumball, whose eyebrow was arched on his forehead in confusion, "He should keep some memories private, don't you think?" she asked.

Gumball shrugged and was going to reply, but at that moment the light at the top of the lighthouse turned on and the clear silhouettes of the married couple were shown in contrast to the bright yellow light. "… this can't be a good idea, I'll probably trip and fall." River complained in a normal volume, but one that was easily heard by the two scientists on the ground.

"Don't worry, just follow my steps." Steve reassured her as the two began to slowly dance.

"Awwww." Gumball coed from below, still silent to the world around him with the exception of Teri, who flashed him a curious glance and an uncontrollable smile. "What?" Gumball asked, seeing his partner holding back her laughter.

"Oh, nothing." Teri managed to chuckle out without dying laughing, "I just never took you for a romantic is all." She laughed out, unable to hold it in any longer.

Gumball opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by the sound of a thud and a pain filled groan saying, "Owww, my ass!" The two looked back up to the top of the lighthouse to see the shadows of River and Steve on the ground away from each other. "I think you stepped on my toes!" Steve complained as Teri's laughter grew even louder, Gumball even gave a small chuckle as he watched, what had to be, Mr. Small rocking back and forth while clutching his foot. "Hey, aren't you supposed to be the professional between the two of us?" Gumball asked Teri, who didn't respond.

"Sorry." River's voice apologized sincerely, but became silent when she heard Steve start laughing softly.

The tall cloud man got to his feet and outstretched his hand to his wife and said confidently, "C'mon, let's try again." She took his hand and he hoisted her up to her feet, then the two silhouettes began to dance again in the glow of the lighthouse.

The two scientists continued to watch until Gumball got an idea and reached his hand into his pocket. "I wasn't at their wedding, were you?" he asked Teri, who's laughter had died out and now pondered the question.

"No… I think I was on vacation with my family when they got married." She responded. The moment she had finished talking Gumball had pressed the button on the remote, sending the world around them into reverse, the moon sank into the ocean and the sun rose just above the lapping ocean's waves, the crowd of people who had left the reception before now gathered behind River and Mr. Small who stood hand in hand infront of a priest.

"…To promise to love and comfort, to honor and to keep in sickness and in health, for as long as you shall live?" the priest asked loud enough for everyone in the crowd to hear.

"I do." Steve responded without a moment's hesitation.

The priest nodded and continued with the ceremony, "And do you take this man, standing before you, to be your lawfully wedded husband?" he asked as he turned to River. "To promise to love and comfort, to honor and to keep in sickness and in health, for as long as you shall live?"

"Yes." River responded, earning an odd look from the priest for not responding with the usual 'I do'.

The priest shrugged the different response away and proudly announced, "By the power invested in me. I now pronounce you husband and wife." The couple kissed happily and turned back towards the crowd, "Ladies and gentlemen… I present you Mr. and Mrs. Small."

At that exact moment Gumball re-froze the memory and covered his face, "Ack! The wedding!" he groaned in a strange voice.

Teri looked at him curiously, "Yeah, what did you think you were sending us to?" she asked the oddly acting cat.

"No, I know that. It's just… I'm bad at weddings." Gumball admitted, "Fluids tend to escape from my eyes." He said as he uncovered his face and wiped away a small tear.

"I didn't know you were that sentimental." Teri commented, surprised at the goofy cat's sudden change in composure. She went over to him and wrapped her arm around his shoulders in a sideways hug.

The two stayed that way for a while, looking at the stillness of the wedding, before they realized that what they were doing and broke apart from each other, blushing madly.

Teri broke the silence awkwardly, saying "Um… let's find the next memento."

Gumball nodded, but couldn't help but notice that there was a strange hint of sadness and pain in her voice as she did so. The young cat frowned, "What's wrong? Not a fan of weddings?" he asked confusedly.

Teri sighed, "… No, I just don't like watching people make mistakes." She said softly, walking away to search for the memento, leaving a stunned Gumball.

He looked from Teri to the happy couple, and he understood exactly what she meant, but he couldn't help but feel differently than his partner. "Nothing that can make two people so happy could ever be a mistake." He sighed quietly to himself as he walked off to help find the memento.

They turned the memory back on and followed the group towards the picnic area for the reception. Steve, River, Nicolas, and an old cloud lady that was obviously Mr. Small's mother surrounded a large wooden table in the center of the large park, a large cake on each of the tables.

The old lady gasped with sudden realization, making Steve look towards her with a frown. "…Oh, I'd better go see how your aunt is doing." She thought out loud.

Mr. Small smiled, relived that that was the reason that she had gasped. "Alright, ma. Tell her thanks for coming." He said as the old cloud woman got up from her seat.

"I will." She promised as she began to walk away. She turned back to him after a few steps and said, "I'm so proud of you, Joey." Then she continued to walk away.

Nicolas turned and looked at Mr. Small with a confused look on his face. "'Joey'…?" he asked questionably.

Steve waved off the question nonchalantly, saying "Oh, that's my grandfather's name. He passed away before I was born. Ma calls me by it as my nickname."

"How come you never told me about it?" he asked, slightly offended that he didn't know his best friends nickname.

"… Cause I'd rather you call me Steve." He responded.

The party continued on and eventually River said something about her forgetting something in their car, so Mr. and Mrs. Small walked down the path to the parking area, with the two scientists following along after them. The four of them reached the parking area, which was nothing but a bit of grass off to the side of the road, when River ran over to the side of the road and knelt down beside a dead squirrel.

"It can't be helped, River… I'm sure they didn't mean to." Steve told her in a soft and comforting voice.

"I'm just… aw poor rabbit!" Rive cried, causing the other three to look confused. It appeared that Steve was going to correct her confusion, but he decided not to, the body was too mangled to even bother with a labeling anyway.

"Think this is the source of all those folded paper rabbits?" Gumball asked Teri.

"Why would she obsess over some roadkill? Not to mention so many years later…" she thought out loud before realizing that the dead roadkill was the memento and prepared it for travel.

"You know it's a fantastic wedding when the memento's roadkill." Gumball remarked as he clentched his nose. Teri paid no mind to him and activated the memento, turning the whole world white again.

**Sorry for the wait, but I don't get a ton of time to write anymore. Anyway, please remember the bit about Steve's nickname, it's important later on. Thanks for reading, please leave a review on what you thought of the story, and if you liked it please fav and follow. And if you want more awesome stories, check out some of my other stories. Have a Happy Easter and Wild Spring Break**


End file.
